1 D’AMORE-MCKIM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
WORKLOAD POLICY DOCUMENT
Approved by DMSB Faculty: March 2, 2018
Approved by DMSB Dunton Family Dean: March 2, 2018 Date of Next DMSB Review: By April 30, 2019
Sent to Provost: April 11, 2018 (Revised June 24, 2018) Approved by Provost: June 30, 2018
The resolution passed by the Faculty Senate on April 5, 2017 calls for each academic unit (in the case of DMSB, the unit is the School) to establish a faculty workload policy as follows:
All full-time faculty members participate in some combination of instructional; research;
scholarship; and creative and service activities that have been established to encourage the general development of Northeastern University students. Given that academic units vary in their contributions to the University mission, components of the workload policy will vary from one department or unit to another. However, each academic unit must have a comprehensive workload policy in accordance with criteria jointly approved by the University’s provost and the Faculty Senate. (Criterial for the development and display of Full-time Faculty Workload Policies at Northeastern University in is entirety is found on the Northeastern University Faculty Senate Website.) Each unit’s workload policy must be approved by a vote of the full-time faculty of the academic unit and be approved by the College dean and the provost. Faculty workloads are administered by the appropriate academic unit head and/or college deans
Criteria for the development and display of full-time faculty workload policies include:
1. Each unit should have one comprehensive workload policy document. It is expected that workload will vary across types of appointments and units.
2. The full-time faculty of the unit, the unit’s dean, and the provost must approve the unit’s workload policy. Whenever a unit has failed or refused within a reasonable period to produce one, the provost shall adopt a workload policy for a given unit as s/he deems fair and
reasonable.
3. A workload policy for full-time faculty positions should include definitions of teaching, research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development, and service.
4. A workload policy should emphasize equity of total workload, rather than equity in one or two components of the workload. The intention of this guideline is to ensure that full workload is being assessed, despite heterogeneity in faculty roles.
5. A workload policy should have, at a minimum, five key sections:
a. Define workload and how it reflects the goals/aspirations of the unit.
b. Describe the different types of appointments and the expected percentage of distribution of duties for each type of appointment across the areas of teaching, research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development and service. For
2 example, Assistant Professors may have a distribution of 40% teaching, 50%
research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development, and 10% service; an Assistant Professor may have a distribution of 40% teaching, 40%
research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development, and 20% service; a Research Professors may have a distribution of 20% teaching, 70%
research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development, and 10% service.
c. Identify criteria by which workloads might be modified including pre-tenured minimum course reductions, family leaves, maternity/adoption leaves, and medical leaves.
d. Specify frequency of workload review policy.
e. Describe how and where the workload document is made accessible. The intention of this guideline is to ensure that the workload policy documents for all unites include information encouraging transparency and regular review.
6. For units with one or more faculty members with joint appointments in different units, the document should contain at minimum, an additional section to:
a. Define how a percentage of appointment of less than 100% with the unit impacts workload policy.
b. Indicate how the tenure home factors into workload policy.
c. Describe how the unit coordinates workload policy decisions with other units for faculty with and without a tenure home in the unit.
d. Describe expectations and accommodations for workload distribution across units.
e. Describe what faculty candidates considering jointly-appointed positions will be told about how workload expectations will be balanced across units.
7. A workload policy document for each unit should be electronically available to all full-time faculty members across the University.
8. The annual workload percentage distribution of duties (see # 5) for each full-time faculty member in the unit must be accessible for any full-time unit member.
9. The workload policy must include a clear, published, appeal process to address and resolve any concerns with an individual’s workload in the unit.
10. The workload policy document must include a completed form labeled “Checklist for Unit Workload Policy Documents.”
ACADEMICALLY QUALIFIED AND RESEARCH PRODUCTIVE
Academically-qualified status relates to AACSB accreditation standards. The AACSB definitions for qualification developed by DMSB are discussed in Appendix 2 of the DMSB Faculty Handbook.
Research-productive status relates to DMSB’s definition of research productive and how it relates to faculty teaching loads. Details are discussed in Section 9 of the DMSB Faculty Handbook.
DEFINITION OF WORKLOAD AND HOW IT REFLECTS THE GOALS AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE D’AMORE- MCKIM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
3 Consistent with the University Faculty Handbook, the DMSB Faculty Handbook sets performance
expectations that, All faculty members will be evaluated annually in each of the three areas of scholarship (including research and creative activity), teaching, and service. In addition, faculty members will be evaluated on contributions to the quality and effectiveness of the group, the School, and the University. The University recognizes that every faculty member offers a unique combination of accomplishments relative to the criteria listed above, depending on academic field, specialized scholarly interests, varying
professional opportunities, and responsibilities for teaching, laboratory/research and field work. However, while relative weights may vary, all faculty are expected to be productive in each of the three areas over time.
Workload for full-time members of the DMSB faculty will consist of teaching, research, and service (including professional activities). Some of these activities may be weighted at zero for some members of the faculty. In addition, some faculty members, e.g., Group Coordinators, may have administrative responsibilities that make up part of their workload.
From Section 1 of this Handbook:
Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business (DMSB) develops and educates highly motivated individuals who will become leaders of integrity and make a positive impact on society. DMSB seeks to be a nationally recognized business school that combines the development of intellectual capital with the integration of a premier experience-based educational model.
The overriding objective of the workload policy is to ensure that DMSB deploys valuable full-time faculty resources to best achieve these goals and aspirations.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FULL-TIME FACULTY APPOINTMENTS IN DMSB
DMSB has different types of faculty appointments including tenure-track, tenured, and non-tenure- track. Non-tenure-track faculty includes Lecturers, and a category including titles of Teaching Professors, Academic Specialists, and Professors of Practice. This non-tenure-track category includes some faculty members with terminal degrees and others without terminal degrees.
Tenure-Track faculty members are in a probationary period as defined in Appendix 5. Their workload consists of teaching, research, and service, with an emphasis on teaching and research. The distribution of workload for this group of faculty is 40% teaching, 50% research, and 10% service. Typical teaching loads for this group of faculty are in the range of 12-14 credit hours. New tenure-track faculty receive 12-hour teaching loads for each of their first three years.
Tenured faculty members are expected to engage in teaching, research, and service. A standard distribution of workload for this group of faculty is 40% teaching, 40% research, and 20% service, and a 14-hour teaching load. These weights may vary to reflect that faculty in this group often place different emphasis on the different components of workload. For example, teaching may range from 30 to 50%, research from 20 to 50%, and service from 20 to 30%. Faculty not meeting the requirements for a 14- hour teaching load (at least four publications in the prior five years or Dean’s approval), would teach a 17-hour load, with weights of 50% teaching, 30% research, and 20% service. In extreme cases where
4 faculty members in this group have chosen to focus almost entirely on teaching, teaching could go beyond the normal workload, up to 80%. Typical teaching loads for this group of faculty are in the range of 12-17 credit hours.
Teaching Professors/Academic Specialists/Professors of Practice with terminal degrees are expected to maintain Academically Qualified status for accreditation purposes. Faculty members in this group are expected to engage in teaching, research, and service. A standard distribution of workload for this group of faculty is 70% teaching, 10% research, and 20% service. These weights may vary to reflect that faculty in this group often place different emphasis on the different components of workload. For example, teaching may range from 60 to 70%, research from 10-20%, and service from 20 to 30%. Typical teaching loads for this group of faculty are in the range of 17-20 credit hours.
Teaching Professors/Academic Specialists/Professors of Practice without terminal degrees are expected to engage in teaching and service. Faculty members in this group should endeavor to maintain
Instructional Practitioner status for AACSB accreditation purposes (Appendix 2). A standard distribution of workload for this group of faculty is 80% teaching, 20% service. These weights may vary to reflect that faculty in this group often place different emphasis on the different components of workload. For example, teaching may range from 80 to 95%, and service from 5 to 20%. Typical teaching loads for this group of faculty are in the range of 19-22 credit hours.
Lecturers generally do not have terminal degrees and are not expected to engage in research. They often engage in service, which has been compensated beyond their full-time teaching commitment. An average workload distribution for this group of faculty is 90 to 100% teaching and 0 to 10% service.
Faculty members in this group should endeavor to maintain Instructional Practitioner status for AACSB accreditation purposes (Appendix 2). The typical teaching load for this group of faculty is 24 credit hours.
CRITERIA FOR MODIFICATION OF WORKLOADS
Workload modifications for individual faculty members or groups of faculty may arise from a variety of sources. These include University policy and DMSB policies. These include:
Approved leaves for family reasons, parental, and medical reasons.
Significant administrative assignments, for example Group Coordinators.
Reduced teaching loads to provide research support for tenure-track faculty
Reduced teaching loads to provide research support for tenured faculty who are highly productive in engaging in and publishing research of the highest quality and impact.
Reduced teaching loads to provide research support to faculty recognized with chaired professorships, distinguished professorships, or other considerations.
Reduced teaching loads as approved by the Dean to accommodate specific teaching and service requirements.
Any workload modifications related to DMSB policies will originate with a faculty member’s Group Coordinator, in consultation with the Dean’s Office, and must be approved by the Dean.
5 REVIEW OF FULL-TIME FACULTY WORKLOAD POLICY AND ACCESSIBLITY
This workload policy will be reviewed before the end of the next academic year after the policy is approved. Thereafter, the policy will be reviewed once every three years or more frequently if necessary. The review will be conducted by the Dean’s Office, in consultation with the Group Coordinators and the Faculty Policy Committee. Results of the review will be presented to the DMSB full-time faculty and any changes will be approved by the voting faculty as changes to the DMSB Faculty Handbook.
The Full-Time Faculty Workload Policy will be made available to all full-time faculty through its inclusion in the DMSB Faculty Handbook, which is available electronically to all full-time faculty. The annual workload percentage distribution of duties for each full-time faculty member in DMSB will be accessible in the Dean’s Office to any full-time faculty member of DMSB.
JOINT APPOINTMENTS
DMSB has a number of full-time faculty members with joint appointments in other colleges. Some of these faculty members have their tenure home and majority of commitment in DMSB, while others are tenured in other colleges, with a minority of commitment in DMSB.
Faculty members with joint appointments are expected to provide teaching, research, and service to the units where they are appointed, consistent with their percentage of commitment to each unit. The unit with the majority of commitment will take the lead on establishing workload. The unit heads (Group Coordinators, Associate Deans, Deans) as appropriate will coordinate the workload expectations with the faculty member and with the appropriate contact in the other unit. This information will be communicated by unit heads during the search process to faculty being considered for joint appointments.
ADDRESSING WORKLOAD CONCERNS
Workload is first discussed with a faculty member’s Group Coordinator. Workload weights for individual faculty members should be set in accordance with the general guidelines for the appropriate faculty classification. The faculty member should work with his or her Group Coordinator to set the weights, which should reflect an appropriate strategy for the faculty member, i.e., these weights should not change opportunistically in the short-term. The Dean’s Office will approve the weights, and any changes.
If a faculty member has concerns over unresolved issues in their workload policy developed with the Group Coordinator, then he or she should appeal by providing details to the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research. If the concerns are still not resolved, then the faculty member should appeal by providing details to the Dean.
6 DEFINITIONS OF TEACHING, RESEARCH, AND SERVICE
Teaching
The D’Amore-McKim School of Business places significant emphasis on the importance of quality teaching and all faculty members are expected to engage in the development and delivery of high- quality teaching. This is critical to our mission that: Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business (DMSB) develops and educates highly motivated individuals who will become leaders of integrity and make a positive impact on society. It is also consistent with our standards for promotion (detailed in Appendix 5-Tenure-Track and Tenured faculty; Appendix 6—Lecturers; and Appendix 8—
Teaching Professors and Academic Specialists) in that “Good” teaching of the theory and practice of management in the area of expertise is a sine qua non for receiving tenure.
Per Handbook Appendices 5, 6, and 8: The following items will be reviewed for quality and significance:
course and teaching materials, contributions to colleague development, classroom effectiveness, course and curriculum development, teacher/course evaluations by students, offering of effective counsel to students on course and curriculum matters, development of materials that enhance the learning process, such as written and video cases and computer software applications. The good teacher should be a strong contributor to keeping courses and curricula current and should stay abreast of knowledge in the field(s) of expertise.
And for the highest levels of promotion Appendix 5 states the following for tenured faculty, which can also be applied to the highest ranks for Lecturers and Teaching Professors/Academic
Specialists/Professors of Practice: Overall teaching effectiveness should surpass the standards that are considered worthy of tenure. There should be a demonstrated effectiveness in teaching the theory and practice of management in more than one academic program (undergraduate, graduate, non-degree).
There should be a promise of career-long growth and worthy performance in the fields of expertise as demonstrated by the introduction of new courses, materials, and curricula; and by the contribution to the development of colleagues as effective teachers.
Research
The D’Amore-McKim School of Business places significant emphasis on the importance research and scholarship. As DMSB seeks to be a nationally recognized business school that combines the
development of intellectual capital with the integration of a premier experience-based educational model we need broad-based representation of our faculty in the scholarly domain, and additionally need to continue to expand our research at the highest levels of publication outlets and impact.
Per Handbook Appendix 5 for tenure-track and tenured faculty: Articles based on original research are the usual evidence of productive scholarship. Other evidence of such scholarship includes the following:
research volumes, monographs, chapters in research volumes, and articles in respected management periodicals. The quality and significance of each of those contributions is central to the judgment of whether or not the candidate meets the requirement of scholarly productivity. Quality and significance may be evidenced by the evaluation of external letter writers, DMSB tenured faculty evaluations of research, the quality of journal outlets, citation by scholars, or widespread adoption and use in the field of management. Other evidence of achievement will be considered supplemental to this necessary core
7 of scholarly productivity. This would include, for example, papers published in conference proceedings, textbooks, written and video cases, computer software applications, working papers, and other research in progress. Textbooks and video cases are included to the extent that they represent an original
approach or synthesis. Otherwise, they generally fall into the teaching category. For such materials to be accepted as scholarly productivity, evidence must be presented that they represent substantive
contributions to the theory and practice of management.
And for the highest levels of promotion Appendix 5 states the following: Overall scholarly productivity should surpass the standards that are considered worthy of tenure. To qualify for promotion to full professor, there should be significant additional contributions to, and dissemination of, knowledge about the theory and practice of management. For example, this may be evidenced by additional journal articles of high quality or a completed book considered to be a worthy contribution to the field of management. There should be a strong likelihood that such scholarly productivity will continue.
Per Handbook Appendix 8 for non-tenure-track faculty with research expectations: Contributions to the theory and practice of management and their dissemination, including in practice-oriented publication outlets, are noteworthy and should be viewed positively in the promotion decision.
And for the highest levels of promotion: Contributions to and dissemination of (including dissemination in practice-oriented publications) knowledge about the theory and practice of management will be viewed positively. Working with and advising tenured or tenure-track faculty colleagues to develop and refine practice-oriented research questions and publications are noteworthy and should be viewed positively.
For non-tenure-track faculty, maintaining research productive status, or publishing in top specialty journals may signify outstanding research contributions. Maintaining academically qualified status and publishing in high-quality specialty journals may signify excellent research contributions. Non-tenure- track faculty members should work with their Group Coordinator and the Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research to set a workload weight for their research component and to discuss their research plans and evaluation.
Service
Service -- both internal service to the group, DMSB, and University; and external service to the profession -- is an important piece of any full-time faculty member’s contribution. It is also consistent with our standards for promotion (detailed in Appendix 5-Tenure-Track and Tenured faculty, Appendix 6—Lecturers, and Appendix 8—Teaching Professors and Academic Specialists).
Per Handbook Appendix 5 for tenure-track and tenured faculty: Contributions to School and University activities are required. These activities may include administrative duties, committee work, advising student organizations, and involvement in other roles that contribute to the functioning of the School and University. Participation in professional programs or as an officer of a professional organization is expected of a candidate for tenure. Certification and awards in an appropriate professional field and significant professional consulting activities which enhance teaching quality or scholarly productivity are noteworthy accomplishments. Ad hoc journal and conference reviewing is deemed appropriate
professional service for untenured faculty.
8 Appendix 5 states the following for tenured faculty: Significant leadership contributions to the School and University through service activities are expected. Evidence of participation and leadership in one or more recognized professional associations in the fields of expertise is expected. Certification and awards in an appropriate professional field and significant professional consulting activities that enhance teaching quality or scholarly productivity are noteworthy accomplishments. Membership on journal editorial boards and regular journal manuscript reviewing are also significant contributions to one’s profession. Noteworthy community service may also be relevant but is not required.
Per Handbook Appendix 6 for Lecturers and Appendix 8 for Teaching Professors/Academic
Specialists/Professors of Practice: Significant contributions to School activities are required. These activities may include administrative duties, committee work, advising student organizations, and involvement in other roles that contribute to the functioning of the School and University. Participation in professional organizations, which may include presenting at programs or serving as an officer, is
expected. Certification and awards in an appropriate professional field and significant professional consulting activities that enhance teaching quality are noteworthy accomplishments. And for the highest levels of promotions: Continued significant contributions to the School and University through service activities are expected. Evidence of significant participation and leadership in one or more recognized professional associations in the field of expertise is expected. Certification and awards in an appropriate professional field and significant professional consulting activities that enhance teaching quality or scholarly productivity are noteworthy accomplishments. Noteworthy community service may also be relevant but is not required.
9 CHECKLIST FOR UNIT WORKLOAD POLICY DOCUMENTS
The Dean should initial each point on the checklist. By doing so, he or she attests that the full-time faculty workload policy document satisfies each of these requirements.
Initials
ET Document is consistent with published School and University policies.
ET Document clearly reflects the goals/aspirations of the unit as these relate to workload.
ET Document clearly defines the types of activities that constitute each of teaching,
research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development, and service for the unit.
ET Document describes the different types of full-time positions in the unit.
ET Document clearly defines teaching, research/scholarship/creative activities/professional development, and service expectations for the different types of appointments.
ET Document describes all unit policies related to workload for full-time faculty.
ET Document describes criteria in which workloads may be modified, including pre-tenured minimum course reductions, family leaves, maternity/adoption leaves, and medical leaves.
ET Document states how frequently the workload policy document will be reviewed.
ET Document indicates where and how the unit’s current workload policy can be found.
ET Document indicates where and how the workload assignments for each full-time faculty member can be found.
ET Document describes the process for faculty to address any concerns with their workload in the unit.
ET Document indicates date of approval, and subsequent modifications by the unit, and anticipated date of next review.
ET Document indicates date of approval of the unit’s dean.
ET Document indicates when it was sent to the Provost’s Office to be included in the master list of polices for all units, and date of approval of the provost.
If the unit has one or more faculty with joint appointments in other units:
ET Document defines how the workload policy changes for faculty members with an appointment of less than 100% in the unit, including impact of tenure home.
ET Document describes how the unit will coordinate workload policy decisions with other units for faculty members with joint appointments, and how differences in workload expectations across units will be handled.
